Busy technologist Suw Charman says that tracking the time she spent on different tasks in a work journal on her desk helped her stop wondering where her day went:

Knowing what you've done, and how long it's taken, puts a shape on your day. You can say "I've done one hour of my five hour task", or "I've spent 4.5 hours answering emails", and suddenly it doesn't seem so much as if you've wasted your time. You realise that some of that stuff that felt like procrastination was, in fact, work.

Like any new system, jotting down what you're working right this minute each you switch tasks is a habit that would take some self-training to acquire, but it sure does sound worth it to get a realistic view on how you spend your time. — Gina Trapani